Meijer LPGA Classic Presented by Kraft
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Third Round News and Notes
July 25, 2015

Lizette Salas will take a four stroke lead into the final round of the Meijer LPGA Classic Presented by Kraft after shooting a bogey-free 64 in the third round at Blythefield Country Club.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Salas said with a smile. “Everything’s been going my way and I’ve been staying positive and just really focusing on my shots and kind of have this, I don’t know, just go at the pins attitude today and everything just kept going my way and really, really happy.”

Salas got off to a hot start with birdies on three of her first four holes and didn’t look back en route to shooting her 7-under round which leaves her at 16-under par for the week. The USC grad will sleep on the 54-hole lead for the third time in her career where her previous finishes include a solo second at the 2014 Kia Classic and her victory at the 2014 Kingsmill Championship.

“We’ll see what happens,” Salas explained. “I’m not going to focus on the outcome or the what if. I just need to focus on each shot and on my routine and just to stay as patient as possible.”

What Salas does know is that a strong finish this week will add even more points to her ranking in the chase for a coveted spot on Juli Inkster’s Solheim Cup team where, as of this week, Salas is on the outside looking in.

“Are you kidding? It’s been on my mind the last like three months,” Salas said when asked about it. “I always like to do things interesting. My mom calls me a procrastinator. So my good golf is finally showing up and I’m really fortunate and glad that this is happening right now.”

Joining Salas in the final group will be Lapeer, Mich., native Kris Tamulis and Lexi Thompson who each sit four shots back at 12-under.

Hometown Tamulis Plays Way into the Final Group
Kris Tamulis finds herself in Sunday’s final group at the Meijer LPGA Classic presented by Kraft. Following a 67 Saturday, Tamulis is T2 with Lexi Thompson at 12-under-par chasing current leader Lizette Salas who sits at 16-under.

Tamulis will be playing in unfamiliar territory heading into Sunday’s round, but she is just trying to enjoy herself and not overstress climbing the leaderboard.

“Yeah. I mean, golf’s really hard,” Tamulis said. “It’s really hard and it’s a struggle out there. It always is. For me it’s a grind every day, so I’m really just trying to enjoy myself.”

Tamulis is a Lapeer native and has been enjoying her time back in her home state, but it has been a challenge to remain focused solely on winning come Sunday afternoon.

“I do like this place,” Tamulis said. “The only thing, it’s really hard because there’s so many fans out here and so many people come out that I haven’t seen in a really long time and they don’t really understand that I’m out here working. So I have people like waving to me and telling me to come over and say hi, and I’m like on a really tight schedule…So I kind of like have to have my blinders on this week. But I love the golf course, I love the fans. I’m really, really proud to have an event in my home state and I think it’s great.”

Rolex Rankings No. 1 Makes a Move
Inbee Park was able to make a move on Saturday to climb into the top-10 at the Meijer LPGA Classic presented by Kraft.

“I mean, this is your last chance to really get yourself in contention for tomorrow,” Park said. “it’s just only one day left and I have a lot of confidence from today that will help going into tomorrow.”

The Rolex Rankings No.1 posted her lowest round of the week, a 5-under 66, to get to 9-under for the event.

“Obviously I played better every day.,” Park said. “You know, the ball striking wasn’t really there for me this week. I hit a couple of bad drives every day and that really cost me every day. So, I mean, my putter seems like it’s much better than the last couple weeks but just golf is a weird game. You know, when you get one thing right, you can’t get the other thing right. My ball striking is just really consistent all year, just my putting was a little bit off. But obviously this week ball striking was a little bit off but my putting is getting better, which is a good sign. Just got to fix a couple things on the ball striking and get it in good position.”

Eagles For a Cause
Two total eagles were made on Saturday (Dana Bordner, Jee Young Lee) at the Meijer LPGA Classic and players raised $2,000 toward the Wounded Warrior Project as part of the season-long Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends. The two eagles brings the total for the year to 146 and $146,000 raised.

Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends is a season-long charity program that will be tied into the Race to the CME Globe. Each Saturday and Sunday at LPGA tournaments, CME Group will donate $1,000 to Wounded Warrior Project® for each eagle that is recorded. This amount will increase to $5,000 for each eagle during the weekend of the CME Group Tour Championship and a formal check will be presented to the Wounded Warrior Project® during the trophy ceremony at the CME Group Tour Championship. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.

Meijer LPGA Classic Rd 3 News & Notes

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